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Voltron Season 8: Everything Right and Mostly Wrong

Caution – this article discusses Voltron season 8, and includes major spoilers.

Were any of you fans of How I Met Your Mother? A pretty amazing show which capped off an epic final season with quite possibly the worst finale of all time? Voltron season 8 is my HIMYM season 9. I loved almost all of Voltron. I mean Season 3 started getting a little weird and out of place but then they got back on track. Kinda. But then they had to to end it…well, like they did.

Some were happy that Shiro, a character faced with constant adversity in his story, might get a happy ending, but the show’s large queer audience tossed around words like “betrayal” and “dread.” And that’s all because there was a LOT wrong with Voltron Season 8.

So the agenda for this week for Voltron Season 8

Monday: cry because Voltron in over.

Tuesday: cry because they killed Allura.

Wednesday: cry because I miss Adam.

Thursday: cry because I miss Voltron.

Friday: cry because there won’t be new episodes.

Saturday: cry because Lance deserves better.

Sunday:cry because of Matt’s new haircut.

The real star of this season though was Allura. Her romance with Lance was pretty expected and while I wish they had done more to build it up (much like the Haggar backstory) it still works. They’re cute together! They got to cuddle and support one another. That’s the kind of healthy relationship I like to see in kids TV.

In “Launch Date”, the relationship between Lance and Allura finally came to a head.

I was iffy on Lance as a character for the first couple of seasons, but he really grew on me as he grew up. I’m usually not a fan of the kind of relationships Lance/Allura represented at the beginning – an obviously uninterested woman being relentlessly pursued by a man who won’t take no for an answer.

But Lance/Allura was extremely well-written and developed naturally over the course of seven seasons. They became close and came to appreciate each others’ positive qualities and eventually developed real romantic feelings. This was one of the more well-done heterosexual relationships I’ve seen in a while because the build-up was believable. Their little moments through the season (hand-holding, hugging, just being together) were great, but sadly Lance’s entire purpose became “being worried about Allura”. He had some of the best character development on the show, so it was disappointing that he became such a flat character in Voltron season 8.

I can admit that even while being a part time Klance Shipper. I LOVE Lance and Keith together and while I think it was wrong for Allura to die, now Lance and Keith can be together.

Voltron season 8 was a fabulous season for Allura. Not only did we get to see her explore her Altean magic (since when can she camouflage herself? and she, like, healed an entire park!), but we also got to see her go a little dark side, which was pretty great. She realized that she had found a new family – such as when the other girls took her shopping for her and Lance’s date, or when she ate dinner with Lance’s family – and she was willing to put herself in harm’s way to save existence.

So, naturally, they killed her. And I suppose since Alfor sacrificed himself, they wanted to bring the story full circle. But I want to know who thought it was a good idea to take a beloved, heroic, WOC lead and kill her off in the final ten minutes of the final season. Why must Allura sacrifice everything she gained, finally find a family and a place that she belonged and was needed? Why was she the only Paladin that needed to die? I mean, why even bother getting her together with Lance if they were just going to kill her off? Why were we – and the Paladins – not given the chance to properly mourn her?

These are questions that I need answers to, but honestly, no answer is going to satisfy me. Yes, this was an active decision Allura made in order to fix what Honerva had done, but having her be the only loss suffered just seems wrong. No one even tried to think of another solution (they could have sacrificed the lions). She didn’t even get to say goodbye to Coran.

And Shiro’s ending for Voltron Season 8?

For Voltron season 8 to end with Shiro marrying some side character who I don’t even think has a name, a character with whom he did not even converse, who was mostly in the background of bridge scenes, and who had maybe four lines total the entire season? For Shiro to have “found his happiness” and retired, when he was so, so happy to be a Paladin, to be the captain of the Atlas, to be out in space, exploring?

This is a man who had a (presumably) happy relationship and gave it up to follow his dream. You cannot seriously expect me to believe that he would just quit and get married. He is the only character whose epilogue had nothing to do with his character or his dream. Just married. Not to mention, nothing angers me more in storytelling than relationships without development, and the idea that he wasn’t happy until he got married is ridiculous.

And honestly – the fact that Keith and Shiro almost never share the screen after everything they’ve gone through?

Season 7 was bookended by Keith saving Shiro and they don’t even hang out together on their last night on Earth. I was honestly not expecting them to end up together. I mean it’s not like there’s an entire episode comparing Keith and Shiro’s ex-boyfriend oh wait yes there is. They lost of all of their closeness basically once it was revealed that Shiro was gay, which is a travesty.

And then there was Lance. HOW do you become part Altean? I feel like that was something the writers just threw on at the end. One of the things that made Lance so special is that he didn’t have any magic powers or skills. He was a normal human being and ROCKED it. So why did they have to go and make him Altean?

I don’t want this review of Voltron Season 8 to be entirely negative, because as I said earlier, I did enjoy this season until the finale, so here is a little list of things I liked:

Veronica and Acxa moment’s

Pidge connecting to the forest

Awkward dinner conversations with Acxa

Keith and Hunk stuck on the alien version of “It’s a Small World” and Keith going predictably nuts from the song

On the whole, though, this is a lackluster ending for what had up until now been a well-written show with strong, well-developed characters. Voltronseason 8 felt very rushed and out of character, with a poorly thought out and clearly tacked on ending. This show deserved better. The characters deserved better. Still, I think it’s going to become one of the classics that will go up there with Sailor Moon and Pokemon.

What are ya’lls thoughts? Let me know what you loved and hated in the comments below!

Gloria Harvley (MyAnime2Go) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.